Poem ~ Owen and Perseus - Sunday , 7 March 1915

Wilfred Owen - detail by Jamie

In Bordeaux, the city of South West

France, arrived the French capital -

To swell from September 1914,

By fifty thousand people - An exiled

Government escaping the German

Advance on Paris, as smart Parisians

Made occupation of the city streets.

Amid them, returned one English man,

Wilfred Owen - from close of a summer

Spent in the Gailleste valley – with his

Summer’s post complete, the teacher

Had two options - find freelance work

Or return home to an England at war.

Matters changed rapidly by a second

Month of war – Owen's hope to take

Courses ended, with universities

Acquisition for military needs  - then

A path took new direction as Owen's

Shifted from Ledgers to Lem's family.

Given two weeks grace in household

Of the Lems, Owen had the chance

To sort and lengthen his French stay.

With Paris coming to Bordeaux

Unfolding days could bring excitement

Even offer the chance of new contacts.

Reminders of war were all about - one

Result being the offer of private tuition

To the nephew of a Senior General.

With employment secured, Owen in

Employ of a donkey cart, conveyed

Ownership of his three trunks to a new

Home as he settled into another venture.

Mid October found this professor

Of elocution seated before a Louis XV

Bureau - beside a large window to let

In plentiful light – days of teaching

Led him out to homes pupils - this

Occupation occupied a poet's mind.

From a past summer's experiences -

Of Bagneres teaching vacation -

Owen had woken to self-awareness.

From pupil Mmes open suggestions

And Tailhade's poetry of attentions

Working to stir his romantic obsession.

Romanticism had invaded the young

Teacher’s mind, in underlying desire

Of decadence and Romantic Agony -

To bubble below the surface – then

November news came of Tailhade

Suddenly shouldering a rifle prompting

Thought how he might enlist to fight.

Owen's letters toyed with ideas of how

If England were truly threatened, that

He would have no hesitation to join.

With autumn's end Paris was freed

Of danger – but any return to England

Held risks of German infested seas –

Yet another pupil prompted his stay.

Assigned with pupils to teach and guide,

The de la Touche boys proved worthy -

As he told his mother that on his return

His future would be discussed with her -

Or a recruiting sergeant. Meanwhile

Further lodgings beckoned in bargain -

Free lodging exchanged for supervision.

Now led Wilfred Owen to Rue Desfourniel.

His time now planned out for four months -

Owen, at home with the boys, would take

Them shooting in woods – the still air

Echoed with training sounds of artillery

Or the flight of a plane above them.

With the new year of 1915, he might

Make plenty of money - he confessed

At the cost of his soul – others thought

Him aimless - still Owen kept his secrets.

Owen had felt, after experiences of religion,

That an only course for him was as poet -

Being 'the fullest, largest, liveable life.'

In reaction to his neglect of this subject

Set him to work an idea of a long poem,

In the story of Perseus - A hero born

Of a mother's confinement, a tale to take

Long allegorical walks in dark woods -

There, a desire of Perseus reflected war.

Its Completion though remained a dream.

With self reflection, perhaps for Owen

Such an epic could only be about poetry,

Sexuality and unavoidably war's subject.

An unwritten script populated with cures,

Formed decadent ideas, classical statues

And Greek love - all stayed a fragment.

The project remained in the poet's mind

But as a resource for future compositions

And underlying imagery - the Perseus epic

By Owen, fragmented by surviving family.

Possibly deciphering likely undertones

Of blurred beasts in a war poet's book.

Hibberd, D., 2002. Wilfred Owen – A New Biography. London. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Ch 9.

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Poem ~ Bringing the Wounded Home - Friday, 26 October 1914

Organisational pride is evident

In war time arrangements, of how

The wounded are received at home.

In illustration, it is with caution 

That any witnesses makes minimum

Intrusion, so as not to hinder 

The acting out of a smooth operation.

Possibly for this very reason,

Little has been said of the system.

Within Southampton’s vast docks,

At berth 23, a day is much like another.

Within the space where water laps,

An empty dock is not empty for long -

As before and since - on that still

October morning, came modest and large

‘Carrier Ships’ – rather than being

Hospital ships – In their conveying

Those injured from Belgium and France.

To carry out these continual operations,

Six ships are currently in service.

Some months before the prospects of war

All along the coast, services ships

Were visited and considered for adaptions

To needs of ‘Ambulance’ ships.

Soon the shape of an unnamed boat,

That wears the Red Cross emblem

About the mast and around the hull,

Settles into her moorings at Berth 23.

Prior to any disembarkation, preparations

Are made – then prompt at 9 a.m.

The moving of the stretchers begins,

By Khaki clad orderlies - seen as ominous

Are the parked lines of McCromack Carriers.

These conveyers balance on two wheels,

Of light rubber, with drop bars

At either end, to prevent tipping as stretchers

Are placed carefully upon them.

The Southampton dock is seen as adapted

Well, for the tending of the returned

Wounded - with a great spacious sheltered

Shed, so that the injured are kept under cover

As they are moved across to the trains,

Which are waiting for them on the other side.

On that occasion, the trains were heading

For destinations of Sheffield and York.

Being a long journey, the North Western

This train was the first to embark.

Still the ship unloads – a non-commissioned

Officer gives directions with arms out;

‘Walking cases, single file. This way.’

A procession starts of cases

Displaying Injuries to hands, arms or heads –

Some use crutches, or sticks,

Or helped by orderlies - while other men limp

Ashore – the witness sees strained looks,

Looking into the distance, as if still on watch

For any distant or invisible enemy.

The press ganged ship is devoid of any fine

Fittings, perhaps looking a little sad.

Although there are still elements visible

Showing what had been dressed

As first and second class Saloons.

Every alcove or space was to be used,

For beds, with more beds put into tight rows. –

An appearance of an unnamed matron,

Of Queen Alexandera’s Imperial Nursing Service,

Explains the elements of medical supplies,

The use of dispensary and the general layout.

Strong and tender orderlies, escort the more

Serious cases to their stretcher.

Three Nurses drift about, in helping some

Serious cases, directing them

To the lifts that will convey them to the deck.

The valued lifts, that save

Painful movements of having to climb stairs.

Lifts ease the labours

Of the orderlies and nurses – notable is the

Silence of those that carry out their duties,

Whose footsteps make no sound,

On silent flooring - as in a library where valued

Items are moved, lifted and considered –

Over two hours the process made steady

Disembarkation, to total 370 injured soldiers -

Forty-three being officers.

With the last gone the unnamed ship,

Disembarks on another mission.

The mooring space not long empty, as another

Floats to land - this time with 500 soldiers.

Under the care of twelve nursing staff,

From the Territorial Nursing Service

And Army Nursing Reserves - led by two,

Army sisters, detailed to every ship.

This ship had five wards – the upper

Deck given to the officers, while cabins

House for slight cases and convalescents.

A grim part of the process is the red label.

Attached to the bed jacket of any man.

To give warning of a grave injury – any unable

To take long journeys, head for Netley.

These soldiers, gathered from the fields

Of battle, could collectively tell of the

Fighting narrative - men gathered from recent

Conflicts at Ostend, and an airman injured

By accident or the 9^th Lancers that took

Part in a notable charge.

The trains that take the men are ready;

Individually dependent on their ownership.

For those taking men north to Glasgow

Or Aberdeen are more fully equipped

For longer journeys – the general requirements

Dictated by the Army Medical Department,

Struck up a contest, as to which company

Of the trains, can provide the best for them.

Cooks are employed that once catered

For the dining cars - they prepare everything

For the men including lots of beef tea.

Men transfer carefully to the new beds in train

Carriages, fitted with lower and upper berths -

As others that can sit or a use a leg rest, take

Space in saloon carriages - being so comfortable

The men declare they would like to travel further,

Never having such a luxurious ride before.

Each train conveys a medical team of two nurses,

And two medical officers – while ten nurses whose

Quarters are at Netley, can upon their busiest

Of days, or in taking long journeys, be housed

In prepared Southampton quarters. For their quiet

Efficiency the orderly staff of 120 men, all territorials,

Were congratulated by the Surgeon General.

One South-Western train leaves in direction

Of Tidworth – another Great Western train

Leaves for Cheltenham – there are also trains

Made of ambulance carriages that can be attached

To ordinary trains, or run as their own transport –

Owned by the war department whose special

Fittings, mean berths can be removed independently,

As onto ships, giving relief from minimal movement.

There are also needs of clothing for the soldiers,

Who have travelled straight from the battlefields.

In hurried needs of attending to injuries, uniforms

Have been cut-while some reduced to little more than

Rags by fighting or are covered in mud and blood.

Organised by a Major’s wife, Mrs Anderson runs

A small hospital within the docks - with given

Red Cross Supplies and gifts, to include slippers,

Socks, overcoats, cardigans, dressing gowns

And pyjamas - with each ship’s needs, requisitions

Are made, so each man can be properly attired.

A fund made by townspeople further provides

Cigarettes given out at every man’s arrival.

Until now the home coming of the wounded

Has been a process of little publicity

Carried out by teams of Doctors, Nurses and

Orderlies and ships bearing the Red Cross

Designed to give much relief and comfort

With every thought of efficiency and humanity.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1914. How the wounded Come Home. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 26 Oct. p.3. Col.2-3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11186020/Daily-Telegraph-October-26-1914.html [Accessed: 26 October 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 26 October 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11186020/Daily-Telegraph-October-26-1914

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Poem ~ Wilfred Owen, Professor of Elocution - Sunday, 25 October 1914

 Wilfred Owen

Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Owen#mediaviewer/File:Wilfred_Owen_plate_from_Poems_(1920).jpg [Accessed on: 15 November 2014]


A professor of elocution, a young British man

Of twenty one, was invited as a tutor of English.

His client, being a Parisian lady, Mme Leger,

Was to spend the month of August in 1914,

In the foothills of the Pyrenees - near the town

Of Bagneres de Bigorre - The young Professor

Wilfred Owen, had originated from Shropshire.

Arriving at the station Of Bagneres de Bigorre,

Mr Owen, alongside a well-travelled trunk of green,

To be met by a Donkey cart, Mr Leger and his child.

A shy Nenette, giving the young man a slow smile.

A journey led to the villa of a mile from the town.

The Donkey cart carrying their visitor along a narrow

Valley, to where a miniature baroque mansion,

And white balustrades, nestled amid mountain trees.

A daily routine quickly became the norm for Mr Owen.

In order to earn his keep – he gave after breakfast

Madam Leger her two hours of conversational practice

The purpose of lessons to prepare for a Canadian trip,

In order for her to converse more easily with customers.

The lady’s interest of her teacher ran much deeper

Than just learning English – In the depth of fascination,

Mme Ledger eagerly told the professor that he should,

Behave to her, and the house, exactly as his wished.

Having bought himself some gentlemanly items,

In Bordeaux such as a straw hat, a few bow ties

And a walking stick. Wilfred Owen now grew a little

Moustache, in processing his young man’s image.

Proud to have worked his way forward as a teacher

He wrote, confiding emotions, in words to his mother.

Of how in France to be feeling - experiencing, ‘his life

As a lived out book.’ Yet the letter was never sent.

After the morning sessions, Wilfred was free to do,

As he wished and he spent time in Bagneres,

or out climbing looking to the heights of the Pyrenees.

Soon he took up a secret habit of bathing – finding

A hidden pool fed by cool waters of the mountains.

Developing a tan, sitting beneath a Autumn sun –

With time spent sitting happily in the garden, smoking.

Owen’s idle moments, expanding into idle theories,

Of his designing an idealised fantasy of a country,

House – filled with people whom he might live -

Or invite, inspired him to compose a start of a poem.

September and a month, having passed since war

Had been declared, played upon the professor’s mind,

And of what might be the outcome of his own role

In the European war, as it was then being called.

Back in Bordeaux, Wilfred had looked to Spain’s

Neutrality - to think if that might be an option to go.

With noises from the North from Britain and France

Being stirred up into total war seemed a distance.

In the quiet area of Bagneres town, news carried

To them of war by the papers, yet isolation grew thin -

As this 21 year old Professor read of many German

Atrocities, to share within deep conversations on war.

In the drawing closer of France’s situation, the men

Of Bagneres began to be called up to the colours.

The towns mothers wept openly for departing sons.

then there came the talk of likely local German spies.

Anyone slightly alien to France seemed a suspect.

As a non-native, Wilfred had to be given a permit

Of police, in order to stay - further taking advice

Not to wear glasses, that made him look Germanic.

Owen looked more French without use of glasses,

As he read each day, of the cancerous spread of war.

Unlike Britain, army service was compulsory in France,

Prompting Wilfred to think he should do something -

So he imagined saving provinces at the Eastern Front.

August had long gone into September and the Legers

Return to Bordeaux was closing in - yet madam’s trip

Not until October, Owen was invited to stay with them,

With Mme’s idea for him to travel with her in the spring.

Canada would have seemed an adventure in spring

Of 1915, yet turns of events saw that door slowly close.

Owen learned of the visiting poet, Laurant Tailhade,

To Bagneres, to hold lectures upon the gift of writing.

Furthermore Tailhede was one of the Leger’s friends-

An encounter with a living poet would be monumental,

For the aspiring Wilfred Owen - from their introduction,

The poet was to influence Owen’s view, with exception

Of his pacifists’ views – the guidelines were to run deep.

Perhaps the conflict of pacifism, and desire of freedom

Fighting, embroiled some of the war poet’s oppositions.

An underlying need of experience, to be a man in war,

And as observer conveying suffering in his compositions.

Yet the fermentation continued in Bagneres, as Tailhade

Arrived on 27 August, for lunch at the holiday home.

The poet is likely to have seemed quite old to Wilfred,

formed from years of indulgence, drugs and absinthe.

Tailhade, being short of funds, was to stay at the villa.

Taking a great liking to the dark haired Englishman,

Laurant Tailhade poured over him, shown as he wrote

A Sonnet to Owen –flattered, Wilfred gave no response.

Admiration from a man of letters was yet to be treasured

A shared craft of literary gifts was to create a friendship.

Yet Owen knowing his own mind, kept it on a level plane

As he did with Mme ledger – a desire to write overriding all.

With October came changes like a ladder to the future

Days of August and September sun faded into October

And a return to Bordeaux – having played with the idea

Of returning home – with the ‘Affair Leger’ finally settled

The new capital of France where excitement brimmed.

To make use of his time in France, Owen talked to meet

People of interest, while seeking out a stable of pupils;

With Madam departure he moved from the Legers,

To the Lems household, to little more than an attic room.

Then another change found Wilfred a tutors place from

A wife of a senior General, for her nephew a Viscount.

Again a Donkey cart employed the move, of now three

Trunks, as he found himself in grander surroundings.

As October unfolded, it seemed that Owen had arrived.

Hibberd, D., 2002. Wilfred Owen – A New Biography. London. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Ch 8-9.

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